The Spoony One
The Spoony One is the creation of Noah Antwiler for the online review show The Spoony Experiment, which covers a number of different topics but primarily focuses on computer games and B-grade movies, especially of the action genre. While Spoony's videos have appeared on other sites, including him being a former contributor to thatguywuiththeglasses.com, he mostly posts his videos on his own personal site, as spoonyexperiment.com is one of the most popular independent reviewer websites on the Internet. Beginnings A native of Arizona, Antwiler got his degree in computer science but found jobs in that field hard to come by, For three years, he wrote movie reviews for a magazine, specializing in bad horror films. In the meantime, he began making videos ripping on bad video games and with a few movies. Many of his early movie reviews were text-based, and a good deal of the early video reviews were unscripted reviews of recently released movies that he filmed right after returning from the theater. Most of the first game reviews war of old console games, similar to the Angry Video Game Nerd. His online name came from the nickname he used playing tabletop RPGs and is a reference to the quote "You Spoony bard!" from the U.S version of Final Fantasy IV. He started to really gain popularity when, in 2007, he began making a multi-part review of Final Fantasy VIII, which he described as the start of the Final Fantasy franchise's descent into mediocrity. He put the review on hiatus after seven videos but started up again in 2009. Ultimately, the review took 11 videos to complete. While the FF8 review was on hiatus, he began turning his attention to reviewing PC games, especially those with full-motion video in a series called "FMV Hell." He also began making more movie review videos, focusing on either stuff that was only available on VHS tapes or otherwise very obscure B-grade action movies; he stated he wouldn't be able to watch a lot of those movies if he didn't know some good Hong Kong bootleggers. Spoony has admitted that he does have an affection for a lot of the bad movies he reviews ("Movies don't have to be GOOD to be AWESOME") and that he has a special place for anything starring Reb Brown. In 2008, Spoony was invited to join thatguywiththeglasses.com. He was one of the first contributors outside of Doug Walker to regularly post on the site. Wrestling and Other Shows A fan of professional wrestling, Spoony also began posting vlog reviews and riffs of wrestling shows, in particular TNA Impact. These reviews were done as he was re-watching the shows and were largely unscripted. It was here that he uttered some of his most famous lines outside of a Spoony Experiment episode: While watching the February 27, 2010 edition of Impact, he became infuriated at how Samoa Joe had been kidnaped by people in black hoods the previous week and now his friends had done little to find him other than leaving phone messages: "He was abducted by ninjas! NINJAS!!! CALL THE COPS!!! There are ninjas kidnapping people on TV!!! The cops!!!! Did no one get a license plate?? Do nin… NINJAS!!! KIDNAPPING!!! TV!!! WE'RE NOT STUPID!!!" At the end of the review, he shouted out "WRESTLE!! WRESTLE!!!" over his frustration that TNA devoted more time to talking and promos over actual in-ring action. The quote became such a hit that people actually stated bringing "Wrestle! Wrestle!" signs to TNA events. Antwiler created wrestlewrestle.com to be devoted to wrestling coverage. He would focus on his TNA reviews while recruiting people like Sean Fausz to cover WWE. Postings to WrestleWrestle were not always as consistent as postings to Spoony' main site. Furthermore, his viewers criticized the other contributors like Fausz, citing that it was clear he didn't know a lot about present-day WWE. Spoony has since shut down the site and stopped making vlogs of wrestling, but his previous editions remain posted on the main site. Spoony later created a show callaed "Deadliest Charcater," a parody of the show Deadliest Warrior that pitted fictional characters of similar styles against one another in mortal combat. The first episode featured the original MegaZord from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (represented by Linkara) against Mechagodzilla (represented by a masked James Rolfe); MegaZord won with the aid of the DragonZord. The second episode wast to show the Doctor Who Daleks against Star Trek's Borg, but Spoony ended the show after one episode as he couldn't find anyone with the time to regularly produce the animation needed for the fight scenes. In October 2011, Spoony created Counter Monkey, a show dedicated to telling his crazy experiences with tabletop RPGs as both a player and Dungeon Master. Counter Monkey has proven to be nearly as popular as his main show, giving Antwiler something to regularly post while Spoony Experiment episodes remain in production (the reviews have become harder and longer to produce, especially when he has to devote lots of time re-playing the games he's reviewing) Characters Antwiler has created a number of different supporting characters that have appered on the show whow have either been portrayed by himself of his brother Miles. Burton the Robot - Burton is Spoony's Robot friend - a contraption that Antwiler created from an old vacuum cleaner, He often serves little purpose other than being a prop on the set, but he has often served as a defensive weapon against anyone who invades his home, shooitng lasers from his single eye. Doctor Insano - Doctor Insano is one of the first "evil doppleganger" charstcers created by an online reviewer. A stereotypical mad scientist bent on world domination, Insano is known for his white lab coat, spiral-patterned goggles and high-pithed voice. Spoony originally debuted Insano on episodes of Atop the Fourth Wall to be Linkara's arch-nemisis, and he eventually started appearing in Spoony's videos during the Final Fantasy VIII review. Spoony and Insano appear to have a love-hate relationship: Insano had Spoony killed at the end of the FF8 review, but the revived Clone Spoony let Insano live with him at his new home. Furthermore, Insano may want to rule the world bout not destroy it, which is why he's had to recruit Linkara and Spoony on different occasions to stop cataclysmic events that could destroy the Multiverse (though his own meddling is what usually caused the events in the first place). Insano has even reviewed a couple of movies on Spoony's show. Insano's origin is one of hot debate among viewers. It seems that he is essentially the product of a future Spoony causing a rift in the fabric of time in his attempt to travel back and stop the Final Fantasy series from being created (in somewhat of a parody of the first Final Fantasy game's climax). However, the subject of whether Insano is a separate person, a future version of Spoony or perhaps that they are both completely the same person has fluctuated over the many appearances he ha shade in both Spoony's and other people's videos. Antwiler's best explanation for this has been the cryptic statement," There's no continuity, there's only Insano." Gatecleaner - The Gatecleaner is a parody character based on the "Gatekeeper" from the "Knightmare" board game Spoony review, a character that appeared on a video tape that was to be played with the game and would pop in during the gameplay with a clap of thunder and command the players to do things like be banished to the "black hole" (which came out sounding like "blaghole"). The Gatecleaner, also played by Antwiler, is supposed to be the Gatekeepers nephew and commands Spoony to review all the remaining games in the Knightmare series within the following year. However, Antwiler never got around to continuing his reviews of those games, and it seemed like he dropped the plot element altogether - until the Gatecleeaner returned in his review of Ultima VI with a plan to get revenge on Spoony for failing him that involved Chuckles the Jester from the Ultima series. In addition, several characters from the games he's reviewing have appeared in the episodes and are usually played by either Noah or his brother Miles. These have included Squall from Finla Fantasy VIII Tidus from Final Fantasy X, Yuna from Final Fantasy X-2, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII and characters from multiple Ultima games that include Chuckles the Jester, the Headless monster and The Guardian. Storyline The Final Fantasy VIII review came to an end with Doctor Insano and Squall from the game conspiring to kill Spoony, forcing him to blow up his home through Burton's self-destruct mechanism. Following the end credits, it was revealed that Linkara had recovered what little was left of Spoony and made it his mission to revive him. Linkara evetually cloned Spoony back to life with the cloe debuting in the review of Clones of Bruce Lee. In a crossover review, the original Spoony was brought back from the dead as a Black Lantern, only to have Linkara fully revive him with a Phoenix Down. However, Linkara's nemesis Mechakara killed Spoony and made him a Black Lantern again to use as part of his plan to destroy Linkara. Linkara managed to revive Spoony once again by calling on his bad memories of playing SWAT 4 (this occurred on the episode of Atop the Fourth Wall where Linkara battled Mechakara and reviewed the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic). Alive again, Spoony returned home to take his show back from the clone. Clone Spoony was willing to give the show back, but after hearing he was to review Final Fantasy X, Spoony shot himself and became a Black Lantern again. Black Lantern Spoony traveled to the Farplane to restore Tidus from FFX into a Black Lantern and face Clone Spoony again, but Clone Spoony killed Tidus and transported himself and the Black Lantern to Linkara so he could genetically merge them into one person again. At the end of his review of Final Fantasy X-2, Spoony was reunited with his robot friend Burton, who had disappeared in an earlier review, and he was attacked by Yuna at the conclusion of the review. Yuna was killed by Sephiroth, similar to how he killed Aeris in Final Fantasy VII, and told Spoony he was looking forward to his Final Fantasy XIII review. The final scene suggested that Sephiroth had control of Burton and was planning to bring about a disaster similar to the one in FF7. In 2010, Spoony debuted the Ultima Retrospective series, reviewing each individual game from the Origin Systems RPG series. He began getting criticism from some viewers over these reviews for being more positive minded and analytical rather than in the snarky, hate-filled tone he was known for. However, at the end of the Ultima VIII review, he revealed the entire purpose was to prepare for the big review of Ultima IX, saying the audience needed to see just how good the franchise used to be to understand why Ultima IX was the worst game he ever played. The three-part Ultima IX review had Spoony tormented by The Guardian from the final three Ultima games. The events and conclusion of the Ultima Retrospective series, in conjunction with the Final Fantasy reviews, has left hints that Sephiroth, the Guardian and the Ultimate Warrior (of professional wrestling fame) are working to bring about a cataclysm upon the Earth, and somehow Spoony is doomed to aid in its coming through his upcoming Final Fantasy XIII review. Personal Issues 2009 proved to be a difficult year for Spoony - the first of what would be multiple personal issues he's dealt with since becoming an online personality. At the same time that he was wrapping up his Final Fantasy VIII review and preparing to move out of his parents' home, his recording equipment began to break down, leaving him wondering if he could continue his show. His ending to the FF8 review was actually in preparation for the show possibly coming to an end there, but he managed to get his equipment taken care of. In early 2011, Noah and his girlfriend Scarlett broke up, which took a huge emotional and professional hit to him; in addition to their personal relationship, she had been the webmaster for the site. It also appears that the breakup was mostly her idea, which deeply affected him: He had been very protective of her during their relationship to the point where he took down the video of him accepting the 2010 Mashable Award because people made very unflattering comments about her appearance in the video. Around the same time, Antwiler suffered from a heart condition where he discovered that he would have to tone down the intensity of his performance in his videos or else his life would be at risk. Later that year, he published a blog entry stating that he was suffering from depression-like symptoms and having problems with sleeping too much; at the time, doctors were unable to determine the exact cause and thus proper treatment. Departure From TGWTG In June 2012 Antwiler was suspended by TGWTG for three weeks due to an ongoing war of words on Twitter between him and fellow TGWTG reviewer Allison "Obscurous Lupa" Preglar and the fans of both reviewers over an offensive joke Antwiler posted on Twitter (the joke itself was actually directed at another TGWTG talent, Hope "JesuOtaku" Chapman). Shortly after the suspension, TGWTG announced that Antwiler and the site were parting ways, citing that Antwiler wanted to go in a different direction. This led most people to assume Antwiler had been fired directly for the comments, and the online world became divided on which side was in the right. Antwiler appeared to not take the departure well, actually encouraging people to harass Preglar (former TGWTG contributer Jason "LordKat" Pullara also began assaulting Spoony online) and snapping back at anyone who even offered support to him. Shortly thereafter, Antwlier's Twiiter bullying ceased, and he revealed that a new doctor finally discovered his problem: He was diagnosed with Bipolar 2 disorder. Antwiler has since gotten the proper medication for his condition, and he says he and Preglar have made peace with one another, though he says they still probably shouldn't be in a room together again. Shortly after his departure from TGWTG, Antwiler was approached by another former TGWTG contributor, T.J. Kincaid, to join the new site he was creating. Antwiler has made no indication of taking him up on the offer After the annual TGWTG crossover special To Boldly Flee, one of the last projects Spoony worked on for the site, was fully posted, Antwiler began posting commentary videos for the movie. In the commentary for the first part, he announced that he made the decision to part with TGWTG solely from a business perspective and that he had been planning on doing so even before the controversy, claiming that the number of video hits and revenue he got from TGWTG were becoming minuscule compared to what he was getting from his own site and that the time required for projects like To Boldly Flee were becoming a drain on his own personal production. The suspension was not the direct reason for his departure; it only caused him to expedite what he was already considering because he realized how little not being able to post videos on TGWTG affected him financially. While Antwiler is no longer an official contributor to TGWTG and his own videos are no longer on the site, the site's administrators have no problem with their other contributors working with him, as evidenced by Diamanda Hagan and other producers releasing crossover reviews with Spoony that have been posted on TGWTG.